Poke-O and Chapel Pond Ice Conditions

Heading south on I-87, The Northway, we drove by Poke-O and Chapel Pond.  There were climbers all over Poke-O and a few around Chapel Pond Canyon, but none on Chapel Pond Slabs.  We didn't stop the car to get any photos, but here are a couple videos of the conditions.  Next time I'll have to hold my phone in landscape mode to make for better viewing, but this'll have to do for now.

10.8.2012 Chapel Pond Slab

After much debate between climbing at Chapel Pond or hiking Mt. Marcy we decided to head to Keene Valley and get on some rock.  Cam and Joe shared a rope while Rob and I were on another rope.  We left Troy at 8am and arrived at the slabs around 10am.  Most all of the slab was dry, which is what we were mainly worried about before coming to climb.  Last year, right around this time, Cam, Charles and I made our first ascent of the Regular Route.  I had just started climbing when we were there last year, so it was nice to lead the entire route and see how the tables have turned over the past year.  There was already a group of Canadian climbers on the route when we got to the base, and the last two in their party were just starting off.  Another two people were waiting to start off on the first pitch and then head left for Empress.  After they were gone, Cam started leading and Joe followed, then I started the first pitch of the Regular Route.  We had to wait occasionally for the Canadian team to make progress, but the only substantial wait was below pitch 6.  After finishing off the last two pitches we sat and ate lunch while taking in the nice views of fall foliage down the valley.  Last time, we followed another party down to the base of the slabs by taking a route that required two rappels.  However, the guidebook says that if you have to rappel then you are doing something wrong.  This time we found one of the ways down that did not require a rappel.

Looking up from the base.

Cam looking down on Joe cleaning P1.

Cam leading through.

Approaching the Canadians.

Perfect day in the valley.

Bomber pro all throughout the crack.

Stellar climbing.  Favorite pitch of the route.

Fall colors in full effect.

Leading up to the great belay ledge on P5.

Cam leading to the chimney part on P7.

All clear.

Can't beat the views over Chapel Pond.

Another party on Empress.

Joe feeling good after the climb...

...and Rob feeling tired.

9.25.2011 Chapel Pond Slab

This was my first "real" climbing experience.  I had been to Little Falls a few weeks prior, which was actually my first time climbing outside.  Charles, Cam, and I loaded up Charles' pickup truck at around 6pm on the 24th to make the ~2 hour drive up towards Keene Valley.  We set up camp on the side of the road and started to cook dinner before is got too dark.  First, we all walked over to the base of the slab we would climb the next day to check it out.  The rock was still wet from rain the previous day, but we were hopeful that it would dry out enough by the morning.  Charles and Cam decided to sleep in the bed of the truck and I set up my ENO hammock between some trees along the road.  There was a trail head next to the truck that was on the opposite side of the road as the Chapel Pond Slab, so we decided to take a hike and see if we could get any views of the surrounding area.  As we reached the top of the hike I caught my first glimpse of the Milky Way Galaxy.  I had never seen such a clear sky before.  We hiked back down to the truck and tried to get to sleep.

Climbing Report: We climbed the Regular Route (5.5 PG, 775') as noted in the Adirondack Rock book.  As expected, there were some pitches where friction was your best friend, and some where there were some nice cracks to work up with.  The crux of the entire route was at one of the last pitches, I think it was P6.  Looking back on the climb, the crux was really not all that difficult, but it was for someone with little experience.  The key to this climb was trusting your feet because most of the time that was all you had.

Photos:

 We hiked up to the cliffs towards the right of this wall.

 Here is the truck in the morning, packing up to start climbing.

 The view looking up from pitch 4(?)

 Turkey chili for lunch on a ledge near the belay for pitch 5(?)

 One of the best views of the day.

 Cam hauling packs for 2 guys we met on the trip.

The rack all organized for the climb.

 Cam and Charles between pitches.

 Charles and I working our way up towards Cam. Pitch 3(?).

View of Chapel Pond.